By Miss. Wong Hoo Wing

The above captioned visit was held on 28 February 2015. Upon the arrival, a presentation on the company background was delivered to the participants by Mr. Kai Fleischmann of Herrenknecht (Guangzhou) Tunnelling Equipment Co. Ltd, one of the subsidiaries of Herrenknecht AG.

Herrenknecht AG is an international company with headquarters in Germany providing technology for traffic tunneling, utility tunneling, mining and exploration. Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) of Herrenknecht have been used or are in use in more than 80 countries all over the world for the construction of new infrastructure. The company had set up 7 subsidiaries in China for manufacturing and assembly of TBM, as well as nationwide project management and services. The company had taken part in over 430 projects in China over past 15 years.

Mr. Fleischmann introduced different types of tunnel boring machines and components of a TBM . The machine type appropriate in each individual case is chosen after all available project parameters like geological and hydrogeological conditions have been considered. A 10-minute video about the operation of TBM was demonstrated.

After the video, participants were led to the workshop. It was our great pleasure to have a close sight on these two TBMs with 7m diameter and the first 19m of its back-up systems that will be disassembled on the following working day after our visit. Participants were guided by Mr. Fleischmann from the head to the tail of the TBM with introduction on different parts as well as explanation on the principle of operation of the machine.

In other areas of the workshop complex parts of the TBMs like hyperbaric chambers or the refurbishment of components like thrust cylinders were shown.

Throughout the tour in the workshops, participants actively raised questions on different aspects. Some technical questions such as maintenance method of cutters on the TBM during operation and strategies how to avoid rolling of the machine were explained. Also, questions about the electricity supply to the TBM in deep underground were answered clearly by the staff.

The visit ended with a lunch in relaxing atmosphere. All participants should have gained a lot of knowledge in large diameter tunneling and had great time in the workshop. On behalf of the MT Division and the participants, we would like to thank Mr. Bernd, LEUTHNER, Mr. Fleischmann and Ms. Monique He and their staff for the arrangement of the visit.

Photo 1: Mr. Bernd, LEUTHNER (L2) was pleased to welcome Ir CS LAM (L1)

together with Mr. Kai FLEISCHMANN (R1)

Photo 2: Group photo